


Part 1: The Fool

by chukipye



Series: Persona HQ! [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Persona Series
Genre: MOre ships maybe?, Multi, Persona AU, i'm not actively trying to make it shippy past TeruDaishou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-27 22:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10818489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chukipye/pseuds/chukipye
Summary: It’s Daichi’s second year of college and he’s finally used to the craziness of Tokyo. Or so he thought. But now there’s a strange illness that keeps people from waking up after falling asleep, only recognized by dark markings on their skin. Soon he’s dragged into a world of which he’s never known, but he’s the only one who can save the world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part of my Persona AU! There's going to be a mix of things from various games but no spoilers, so don't worry about that!

Daichi was sure he was used to everything. His first year at Tokyo University was spent getting used to the city and his roommates. Fortunately he had already been acquainted with his roommates. Unfortunately he had already been acquainted with his roommates. And said roommates had settled back into their suite before he had, that much he could tell from their shouting. He let out a sigh as he plugged in his laptop, preparing for his Skype call, before heading out of his room and into their shared living room.

“Kuroo! It is MY turn for the TV! It was on the schedule and you know it!” Oikawa was lying on top of Kuroo on the couch, trying to reach for the remote the taller teen held out of reach.

“Oh? Are you sure? I don’t see anything on the schedule.” Kuroo smirked as Oikawa scowled up at him.

“You erased it! I knew we shouldn’t have used a whiteboard.” He kept trying futilely to grab the remote. Daichi glanced at the TV, noticing how Kuroo was watching the news. He then looked up at the TV schedule they had next to the TV, where they would write their names down with the time they need for specific shows. As Oikawa said, the board had been entirely erased.

“Why do you even want to watch the news anyways?” Daichi finally interrupted, the two of them freezing before turning to look at him.

“Oh hey Sawamura.” Kuroo greeted casually.

“Dai-chan! Tell Kuroo to give me back the remote!” Oikawa immediately whined. Daichi let out a deep sigh. He had hoped that after leaving high school he wouldn’t have to be the ‘dad’ of the group but of course not. Iwaizumi had warned him though.

“Kuroo, we all agreed not to mess with the board.” Daichi pointed out. Kuroo rolled his eyes.

“It wasn’t even his turn anyways. It was Bo’s and he fell asleep, so I’m using his time for him.” He explained. Oikawa pouted.

“But I was using the TV first anyways!” He shot back.

“Bokuto would have rather I watched it than you. Bros before hoes after all.” Kuroo snickered at Oikawa’s offended expression.

“I am NOT a hoe!” He protested. Daichi groaned as the two began bickering again, louder than before. Luckily, an easy solution appeared in the form of one half-asleep Bokuto Koutarou. He was yawning, standing in the doorway of the room he shared with Kuroo, hair messy like he hadn’t washed out his hair gel before sleeping, and still wrapped in a blanket.

“Whazz goin on?” Bokuto asked, blinking a few times. Daichi walked over, plucking the TV remote from Kuroo’s hand and handing it to Bokuto.

“It’s your TV time.” He explained. Bokuto brightened and hurried to the couch, plopping down without warning, squashing Kuroo and Oikawa.

“Kou-chan, get off!” Oikawa grunted, trying to wiggle free.

“Bro. I love you. But you are crushing my legs.” Kuroo groaned. Bokuto sat up enough for Oikawa to break free, scooting to the far end of the couch. Kuroo barely managed to free his legs before Bokuto laid back down, head on Kuroo’s lap. He immediately turned the TV channel off the news and onto some flashy animated movie.

“You didn’t answer my question, Kuroo. Why did you want to watch the news?” Daichi asked again. None of them really cared to watch the news, or bothered to take the time to watch it, especially when the TV time is scheduled.

“There was a report on that Nightmare Syndrome going around. I wanted to see if they found anything more about it.” Kuroo explained, gently stroking Bokuto’s hair. Bokuto seemed about ready to fall back asleep.

“That’s the weird thing where people don’t wake up after falling asleep, right? I heard they get weird marks too. It’s like a magic curse.” Oikawa added. Bokuto frowned.

“That sounds scary. I wouldn’t want to sleep forever.” He mumbled. Oikawa reached over and patted his head.

“Don’t worry, Kou-chan. We’ll make sure you wake up.” He reassured him.

“I’m trusting you guys to not start fighting the minute I go back to my room. I’m skyping Sugawara tonight.” Daichi rolled his eyes at Kuroo’s wolf-whistle and Oikawa’s “ooooooohhhhh”, having heard it many times before.

“Tell Mom I said hi.” Kuroo snickered as Daichi headed back to his room.

“Sorry Kuroo, I don’t have Yaku’s number.” Daichi shot back before closing the bedroom door behind him. His side was still very much unpacked, but it was still neater than Oikawa’s, who had already hung up his posters and glow-in-the-dark planets and stars. Daichi sat down at his laptop and opened up Skype. He already had a message from Sugawara, which simply said he was ready to call. A quick click of the button and a few seconds of the most annoying ringing sound in the world and Sugawara’s face popped out on the screen.

“ _Daichi! Are you all settled in yet?”_ Sugawara asked. Daichi glanced at the boxes on the floor.

“….Yes?” He tried. Sugawara chuckled.

“ _Very believable. Try not to keep everything in boxes until break this time.”_ Sugawara said knowingly. That’s the issue with best friends. They know you too well.

“Kuroo is less likely to go through my things if they’re in boxes.” Daichi explained. Sugawara snorted.

“ _Because you have such interesting things to hide. I’ve read your diary, Daichi. You literally write about dogs you find while running.”_ Sugawara laughed at Daichi’s expression.

“T-They’re good dogs!” His sputtering just made Sugawara laugh harder, eventually Daichi joining in.

“ _God, I missed this. It’s only been a few weeks since you went back too.”_ Sugawara suddenly yawned.

“Did you stay up late watching cat videos again?” Daichi teased. Sugawara rolled his eyes.

“ _That was one time. And they were good cats.”_ Sugawara protested. He rubbed his eyes and Daichi dropped his teasing tone.

“Seriously Suga, you look exhausted. Classes haven’t even started yet.” Daichi frowned. Sugawara waved his hand dismissively.

“ _I’m fine Dai. I’ve just been having issues sleeping lately. I’ll take a nap when we’re done talking.”_ Sugawara reassured him. Daichi opened his mouth to enter but stopped when he heard a crash and a shriek from the other room. Sugawara snickered as Daichi turned to the door, waiting for the inevitable. Sure enough, the door opened and Bokuto’s head popped in.

“Um Daichi? I know you’re busy calling Suga, by the way hi Suga, but I think Oikawa might have actually killed Kuroo this time.” Sugawara waved at him as Daichi stood up, groaning.

“I’ll be back Suga. If you need to nap, feel free to.” Sugawara nodded before the call dropped.

“Alright Bokuto. What happe-“

**_You should have stopped him._ **

Daichi trailed off on his sentence, blinking in confusion. It didn’t look like Bokuto said anything, not that the sudden voice sounded like him at all anyways.

 ** _Sleep is very dangerous for you mortals. Opening gateways for all sorts of creatures_**.

“-aichi?” Daichi shook his head, realizing Bokuto was talking to him. He looked concerned.

“Sorry. Zoning out. What’s this about murder now?” Daichi followed Bokuto back to the living room, where Oikawa was sitting happily on the couch, a bundle of blankets and most likely Kuroo curled up on the floor. A bowl of popcorn was tipped over on the floor and the TV had changed from Bokuto’s movie into what was most likely one of Oikawa’s, considering the alien chasing the characters around.

“I hate this. I hate you. Fuck this shit.” Kuroo was muttering in his ball of blanket.

“Oikawa, what did you do this time?” Daichi asked, folding his arms. Oikawa looked up at him, a completely innocent look on his face. It was one Sugawara pulled on him many times himself.

“I did absolutely nothing. I simply recommended to Kou-chan that we watch my new movie. It’s not my fault Kuroo is a scaredy-cat.” Oikawa nudged the Kuroo-blanket with his foot. Kuroo just whimpered and fell over on his side, curling up further. Daichi let out a deep sigh.

“Kuroo, why didn’t you just leave the room? You have Netflix on your laptop.” Daichi pointed out. Kuroo mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Oh! Cuz that would mean conceding victory to Oikawa and he didn’t want to do that. So he tried to watch, only to get scared by the first jumpscare and now he’s a blanket corpse.” Bokuto explained. This exact situation has happened multiple times in the past year, and Daichi had honestly thought they’d be past it at this point.

“Jesus Christ. Okay. Kuroo, if you don’t want to watch the scary alien movie, go watch Netflix in your room. Oikawa, stop tricking Bokuto into helping you kick Kuroo off the TV. Bokuto, stop letting Oikawa talk you into terrible ideas. It’s bad enough that you and Kuroo have them, we don’t need Oikawa involved as well.” Daichi said firmly. There was a pause before Kuroo finally got off the floor, glaring at Oikawa before shuffling to the room he shared with Bokuto. Oikawa simply hmmph’d and went back to watching the movie. Bokuto actually seemed to be useful and began cleaning up the popcorn. Crisis averted, Daichi returned to his room, fully prepared to call Sugawara back, if he hadn’t fallen asleep.

**_Are you quite done?_ **

Daichi groaned internally. He had a feeling his roommates would make him go insane, but didn’t think it’d be this quick.

**_You are not insane. Mostly. Mortals are always a bit insane._ **

Daichi was honestly not sure if this voice was serious or not. It was a voice in his head after all. He sat back down at the computer, pressing the call button once again.

**_He will not answer you._ **

Daichi gritted his teeth, doing his best to ignore the voice as the irritating Skype ringtone continued to go off. The call ended up not going through, eventually hanging up. Daichi sent Sugawara a message, just in case he was still awake.

**_Are all mortals this stubborn, or are you simply a special case?_ **

Daichi was 150% done with a stupid voice in his head.

“ _Okay weird voice. If I’m not insane then what the hell are you supposed to be?”_ He finally thought, annoyed. He knew he couldn’t answer aloud, especially in case Oikawa decided to walk in. He did not need them to hear him speaking to a voice in his head.

**_I am thou. And thou art I. Or I could be. It all depends on your actions._ **

And Daichi was confused yet again. The voice definitely didn’t sound like his own.

**_I did warn you not to let your friend leave._ **

Was he referring to Suga? Daichi went back through the recent events in his head. They were talking, Suga was looking tired, and then Bokuto interrupted. Daichi’s eyes widened as he remembered what the voice said to him.

 _“Wait you said I should have stopped him. Stopped who? Suga? He was exhausted.”_ Daichi frowned, still confused.

**_You mortals are weak when awake and utterly defenseless when in the Dreamscape._ **

That’s a new word. Dreamscape? Daichi was quite impressed with his insanity. It was coming up with a story good enough for a video game or movie.

**_Do I need to repeat myself every time? You are not insane. Of course, there’s a simple way to prove it._ **

Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all.

 _“Prove what? That I’m not insane?”_ Daichi sat on his bed, rubbing his temples. This was starting to give him a headache.

**_I shall bring you to the Dreamscape so you can witness it yourself. Prepare yourself._ **

Daichi suddenly felt exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in days. He yawned as he flopped back on his bed, rubbing his eyes. He froze when he noticed the black marks starting to form on his palm.

“W-What…?” His eyelids felt heavier than ever and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Daichi woke with a start, sitting up. He groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“That was a bizarre dream.” He mumbled, stretching before standing up. He blinked a few times until he realized he was very much not in his room. He actually had no idea where he was. The room he was in resembled the lounge area at the entrance to their dorms, with a couch and some single seats and a coffee table in the center. The room itself was a dark blue, with a slightly darker blue carpet. There was a bar in the corner, but the bottles appeared empty.

 ** _So, you finally awoke_**.

Daichi jumped, startled. So he hadn’t dreamed that crazy voice.

“Where am I?” He asked, looking around in confusion.

**_The Dreamscape. Most Mortals stay unaware of its presence, but a few are blessed with the ability to traverse it._ **

Daichi remembered the voice mentioning ‘The Dreamscape’ a bit before.

“So I’m asleep right now? But… awake somewhere else?” He frowned. This made absolutely no sense.

 ** _Sometimes you must accept what does not make sense._**  

He was getting sick of the cryptid messages.

“Okay. Whatever. Dreamscape. So you said something about gateways and witnessing something. I don’t see any gateways or…well there’s actually nothing here.” Daichi pointed out. Of course as soon as he points this out something shows up. On one of the back walls, a weird portal appeared, the dark purple with black shifting marks definitely screaming “HEY THERE’S SOMETHING SCARY ON THE OTHER SIDE”. Daichi had a feeling the voice would want him to check out the other side.

**_Mortals are weak when they’re asleep. They open gateways to their minds that shadows are eager to feed off of. Once they’ve attracted shadows, there’s a very low chance they can free themselves from their grasp._ **

Daichi frowned, confused.

“Wait is this what that Nightmare Syndrome thing was about? These so-called Shadows go into people’s heads when they sleep and ‘feed’ off them?” It still made no sense. But with such a weird disease as the Nightmare Syndrome, he isn’t that surprised there’s some sort of supernatural connection.

**_That is the name you mortals have given it. The Shadows feed off of the negative energy and thoughts that mortals are filled with. Sometimes, if the negative energy is too large, the mortal forms their very own Nightmare realm, where the strongest Shadows are formed._ **

Daichi had a feeling that was Nightmare with a capital N. But there was one thing that still bothered him.

“So what does this have to do with me exactly?” He finally asked.

**_The gateway you see leads to one such Nightmare realm. One you should be familiar with._ **

That wasn’t ominous at all. Daichi hesitantly approached the portal. It was just a dream, so it’s not like he had to worry about those shadows, right? He reached out and flinched as his hand went through. He took a deep breath before walking all the way through. He was surprised to find himself back in Miyagi, specifically his own neighborhood.

“What the…?” He frowned, confused.

**_This is not the home you know. Look up at the sky._ **

Daichi did as the voice said, looking up. His eyes went wide when he saw the sky was a strange dark yellow, the moon large and white in the sky.

“Okay. Not Miyagi. So whoever’s Nightmare Realm this belongs to is dreaming of this place?” The voice didn’t answer him this time. Daichi sighed and began walking down the street.

 _“It’s not fair.”_ Daichi froze mid-step at the new voice. This one he definitely recognized.

“Suga? Are you here?” He called out, looking around for the source.

“ _I hate this place. Everyone else left while I’m stuck here. Even Daichi left.”_ Daichi winced at that. Yes, he had originally planned to go to college with Sugawara but he received a better scholarship offer from his current college than the one he was originally going to go to. But Sugawara had said it was fine. Had he been lying? Daichi bit his lip as he kept moving through the street.

“ _I should have just left. Ran away and left this town behind for good. That’s what they all did. But nowhere else would take me. I’m not talented enough like Asahi to get a volleyball scholarship, or smart enough like Daichi to get one for Tokyo. I’m not good enough.”_ Daichi winced. The voice was getting louder, so he must be getting closer. He was surprised to find himself stopping at Sugawara’s house.

“This is….Suga’s Nightmare?” He realized.

**_You are very slow, aren’t you?_ **

Oh so now the voice is back. Daichi scowled before opening the door to Sugawara’s house. He knew this house as well as his own, easily making his way to Sugawara’s bedroom. He opened the door, peering in. He saw Sugawara lying in his bed, fast asleep. Daichi hesitated before approaching the bed, noticing that Sugawara didn’t seem to be suffering or terrified or well… anything other than sleeping peacefully.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” Daichi asked aloud. The voice stayed silent but something else answered him. There was growling from behind him. Daichi slowly turned around, noticing how Sugawara’s closet door was slightly open now. He backed up, nearly falling back onto the bed as a dark shadow began crawling out of the closet, pure black with a bright red mask.

“Okay mysterious voice what the fuck is going on?” Daichi was suddenly starting to get the idea of what Shadows were and he didn’t like it one bit.

**_Ah yes, you do not appear to have a way to fight back. I recommend running. Although your friend seems incapable of doing so. Will you leave him behind to save yourself?_ **

“Absolutely not.” Daichi said firmly. He didn’t want to die, but there was no way in hell he’d leave Sugawara behind to this…whatever it was.

**_Then are you prepared to form a contract?_ **

Daichi bit his lip. The shadow was still approaching and although it was probably a bad idea (especially since the voice had never mentioned a contract beforehand), he also had no other choice.

“Fine. Yes. I’ll form a contract just… help me protect Suga!” Daichi finally snapped. There was silence before Daichi suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. He fell to one knee with a groan, clutching his head.

**_I am thou… Thou art I… From the sea of thy soul, I come…Odin the Commander of Leaders himself._ **

A name flashed in Daichi’s head and his eyes flew open. He felt power surging through him as the Shadow charged.

“Persona!” There was a strong gust of wind, pushing the Shadow back into the closet with a shriek. Daichi was unsure what had happened until he turned around. His eyes widened as he saw a strange figure standing behind him. It was a humanoid figure with dark crow wings and a cowl covering most of its face, with wings on top, revealing only a single glowing golden eye from the darkness. He had a black scarf around his shoulders, dark armor around his torso, and dark feathery bird legs underneath a black tunic that had golden runes embroidered around the bottom.

“U-Uh… I’m assuming you’re Odin then?” Daichi felt dumb asking the question, but he really had nothing else to say.

**_I am indeed Odin. However if we are to properly battle, we will require more room._ **

Much to Daichi’s shock, Odin grabbed him under one arm and Sugawara over another and jumped out the window, easily landing on the street below. He set them both down gently before straightening, a polearm forming out of nowhere. Daichi looked up and saw more Shadows appearing, crawling out from the alleyway.

**_Prepare thyself for battle._ **

Daichi stood up, fists clenching. He had no idea what he was doing, but strange words were flying into his mind. He didn’t know what they meant, but somehow knew what they could do.

“ _Bufu!_ ” Daichi recited. Odin’s polearm glowed bright blue as he swept it in an arc. Icy magic flew out, freezing the nearest shadows. Odin ended them swiftly with a strike from his polearm.

“ _Zio!”_ Odin slammed his weapon on the ground, lightening flying from the sky and hitting more Shadows. Daichi was starting to feel tired, but the Shadows kept coming.

**_Be wary. Our power is shared, but you are still mortal._ **

“Oh now you tell me.” Daichi grunted.

**_I shall provide you with a way to fight on your own. It is up to you to use my gift._ **

There was a bright light and Daichi instinctively shut his eyes to block it out. When he opened them, he felt a polearm of his own in his hands. Looking down he yelped. His clothes had changed, mimicking Odin’s but without the helmet or bird legs (thank God). He heard a growl and turned, a Shadow leaping out at him. He immediately slashed down with his new weapon, eyes widening as the Shadow dissolved. He turned to the rest, whose numbers had lessened by quite a bit. There were only three left. Daichi tightened his grip on his polearm and charged, Odin at his side. The two moved at the same time, slashing down to take out Shadows with ease. Daichi turned to the final one, a determined look on his face.

“Bufu!” He called out again. Odin froze the Shadow and Daichi himself took the honor of shattering it into pieces. When the adrenaline of battle faded, Daichi fell to his knees, panting.

**_Well fought. However this is merely the first battle of many. I will not guide you through the others, but I will still be at your side when you need me._ **

Daichi looked up but Odin had already faded. But he could still sense him, somewhere in his heart. He was suddenly understanding a lot of anime now. He turned back to Sugawara, who was still sleeping peacefully. He knelt next to him, concerned. There were no more Shadows, so he should be safe. Hopefully. The boy had somehow stayed sleeping peacefully throughout the entire battle. Daichi hoped that meant he’d be able to wake up in the real world as well.

“-mura?” Daichi blinked, confused. He looked around, the area around him starting to fade.

“DAICHI!” He woke up with a gasp, sitting up and smashing his forehead into Kuroo’s. Both boys groaned, rubbing their foreheads.

“Kuroo, what the fuck?” Daichi groaned, looking up properly. To his surprise, Oikawa and Bokuto were also there, both looking incredibly concerned.

“I should be asking you that! Are you okay?!” Kuroo asked. Daichi blinked.

“Yeah I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” His eyes flickered between the three.

“Oikawa came to wake you up for dinner and you wouldn’t wake up! And you had weird marks on your hand too! We were worried you had that Nightmare Syndrome shit that was on the news and weren’t going to wake up.” Bokuto explained, shifting from side to side as he did when he was nervous. Daichi’s eyes went wide.

“Oh. I must’ve been really tired then. I didn’t mean to worry you. But as you can see, I’m very much awake now.” Daichi pointed out, moving to stand up. Almost immediately, Kuroo pushed him back down.

“Uh-uh. No way mister. You are going to stay here and we’re bringing food to you. Especially if you might be sick.” He insisted. Daichi rolled his eyes but leaned back anwyays.

“Fine. But I’m telling you I am fine.” He could still tell they were worried and let out a sigh.

“Bokuto. Push Oikawa’s bed over here. We’re going to have a sleepover tonight so you guys don’t need to worry about me.” Bokuto brightened immediately and got to work moving Oikawa’s bed. Kuroo and Oikawa went to go get the food and a laptop to watch a movie on. Bokuto took no time at all to get into the bed and snuggle against Daichi.

“We were super worried, Dai.” He pouted. Daichi let out a chuckle and ruffled his hair.

“And I appreciate it Bo.” He heard his phone buzz and Bokuto grabbed it off the floor, handing it to him. Daichi smiled when he noticed it was a text from Sugawara.

“ _Sorry for missing your call! I fell asleep. I guess I really was tired lol”_ He was relieved. So he really did help Sugawara with his Nightmare.

“Hey Dai, did you get a new journal? You might want to hide it better if you don’t want Kuroo to find it.” Daichi glanced at Bokuto, who was holding a bright blue book.

“Uhhh yeah.” He took it, confused. He flipped it open and frowned. The book was blank except for the first page, where it had a tarot card on it. _The Fool_. He glanced at the spine and saw the title.

“The Arcana?” He heard Kuroo and Oikawa coming back and quickly stashed it under his pillow.

“Alrighty, so we got that new Disney movie, soda and a large pizza.” Kuroo grinned as he shoved the door open with his hip, hands full of food and drinks while Oikawa walked in with the laptop. The two took their place on the bed, snuggling under the covers. Daichi let out a chuckle as they got situated. His roommates could be a handful sometimes, but he still wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“Kuroo that was my slice!”

Okay. Maybe he could trade them for something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit we got Personas now!  
> Basically the Nightmare Realms are gonna be where they find Shadows and plot things. It happens in the Dreamscape (where they go when they fall asleep)  
> I'll be using Persona spells, but the Personas are OCs (if they have the same names as ACTUAL personas then oopsies? There's a bajillion personas I can't keep track of them all)  
> The series is split into different parts (since otherwise this fic would be like 40 chapters long) so this is the conclusion of the First Part! Look forward for Part 2: The Magician!


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